Video gaming's premier horn honker, Trombone Champ, is bringing its comedic rhythm-tooting to virtual reality helmets - meaning PC, PlayStation VR 2, and Meta Quest players might want to pucker up in preparation for a vigorous tromboning session this autumn.

Trombone Champ: Unflattened, as the new VR version of the 2022 rhythm-action sensation is known, is one of the first official VR adaptations from Flat2VR Studios - the developer comprising of modders behind unofficial VR versions of games like Half-Life 2 and Doom.

Created in conjunction with original Trombone Champ developer Holy Wow Studios, Trombone Champ: Unflattened is set to feature more than 50 songs across its single-player campaign, with tracks including Ode to Joy, Sakura Sakura, God Save the King, and more.

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Following the news Krafton was saving Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks from being shut down for good, the PUBG publisher has confirmed its plans to "transfer approximately 50 development staff" from the studio to its Japan subsidiary.

This is roughly half the number of the studio's initial development staff, which was over 100. Gameranx reports this is because others have since found employment elsewhere, and as such there are a number of job openings at the studio.

In an update on social media platform X by Game File's Stephen Totilo, the reporter shared a statement from Krafton's PR, which said those 50 staff who are part of the transfer will "continue to work on new projects, including the expansion of the Hi-Fi Rush IP, at Krafton".

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I've got a real soft spot for Trombone Champ, a rhythm game about tooting along to music that works perfectly with the mouse. I'm also a huge fan of Beat Saber, a rhythm game in which you slice at blocks that whizz towards you in VR.

You can see where this is going. Trombone Champ: Unflattened transports that 2022 tooting into 2024 virtual reality.

Read more

Tango Gameworks are back from the dead. The Hi-Fi Rush studio have been acquired - alongside the IP for future games in the rhythm action series - by South Korean company Krafton, who also own PUBG Studios and Striking Distance, among others. “This strategic move will include the rights to Tango Gameworks’ acclaimed IP, Hi-Fi Rush,” Krafton said in a statement today. I particularly enjoy the hand-rubbing, grinning use of the word ‘strategic’ here. Great news though.

Read more

I've got a real soft spot for Trombone Champ, a rhythm game about tooting along to music that works perfectly with the mouse. I'm also a huge fan of Beat Saber, a rhythm game in which you slice at blocks that whizz towards you in VR.

You can see where this is going. Trombone Champ: Unflattened transports that 2022 tooting into 2024 virtual reality.

Read more

Tango Gameworks are back from the dead. The Hi-Fi Rush studio have been acquired - alongside the IP for future games in the rhythm action series - by South Korean company Krafton, who also own PUBG Studios and Striking Distance, among others. “This strategic move will include the rights to Tango Gameworks’ acclaimed IP, Hi-Fi Rush,” Krafton said in a statement today. I particularly enjoy the hand-rubbing, grinning use of the word ‘strategic’ here. Great news though.

Read more

Remember the Kinect? Back when it was known as 'Project Natal' I had some pretty lofty hopes for the tech. To be fair, those hopes were probably made a little more lofty by some tech demos that were, well, let's just say... slightly economical with the truth.

When Kinect came out it was a big bag of broken, but, there were some games on there that came close to greatness. I had a whale of a time with Fruit Ninja Kinect and would often whip it out (ooer) at house parties, while Ubisoft's Child of Eden was a certified banger.

And that leads me on to Thrasher, the spiritual successor to Thumper, which has just released on Meta Quest and Apple Vision Pro. As you'll see in this week's episode of VR Corner, Thrasher eschews Thumper's industrially soundtracked uphill toboggan ride of doom and instead opts for a gameplay loop that is one part Fruit Ninja and one part Child of Eden. With a bit of Jeff Minter-y psychedelia thrown in for good measure too.

Read more

Remember the Kinect? Back when it was known as 'Project Natal' I had some pretty lofty hopes for the tech. To be fair, those hopes were probably made a little more lofty by some tech demos that were, well, let's just say... slightly economical with the truth.

When Kinect came out it was a big bag of broken, but, there were some games on there that came close to greatness. I had a whale of a time with Fruit Ninja Kinect and would often whip it out (ooer) at house parties, while Ubisoft's Child of Eden was a certified banger.

And that leads me on to Thrasher, the spiritual successor to Thumper, which has just released on Meta Quest and Apple Vision Pro. As you'll see in this week's episode of VR Corner, Thrasher eschews Thumper's industrially soundtracked uphill toboggan ride of doom and instead opts for a gameplay loop that is one part Fruit Ninja and one part Child of Eden. With a bit of Jeff Minter-y psychedelia thrown in for good measure too.

Read more

Xbox's Matt Booty has spoken more on the closure of Tango Gameworks earlier this year, and, while he did not name names, it appears that a change in leadership at the Hi-Fi Rush studio was a factor in Microsoft's decision.

In conversation with Variety's Strictly Business podcast, the Xbox executive was asked about the closure of Tango Gameworks, and whether Microsoft had tried to seek another buyer for the studio.

"I won't get into the real sort of nitty gritty details on you know, what went into the decision, mostly out of respect for the people there, just because you know, there was a lot of work that went into delivering Hi-Fi Rush, which was a great game and you know did well for us," Booty began.

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Excuse me, sorry, pardon me, can I just, thank you, ah, sorry, thanks... Phew, made it. Steam Next Fest is pretty crowded, eh? As if the unholy swarm of trailers and game announcements from Summer Game Fest was not enough, this week the fearful megalords at Valve decided to drop their regular cavalcade of coming-soons onto their megastore. The beautiful (and terrifying) thing about Next Fest, of course, is the overwhelming number of demos that come out during the event. A small herd of video games are standing on my toes as we speak. But that's okay, we are expert curators. Here's a handy list of our nine favourite demos of the lot.

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Excuse me, sorry, pardon me, can I just, thank you, ah, sorry, thanks... Phew, made it. Steam Next Fest is pretty crowded, eh? As if the unholy swarm of trailers and game announcements from Summer Game Fest was not enough, this week the fearful megalords at Valve decided to drop their regular cavalcade of coming-soons onto their megastore. The beautiful (and terrifying) thing about Next Fest, of course, is the overwhelming number of demos that come out during the event. A small herd of video games are standing on my toes as we speak. But that's okay, we are expert curators. Here's a handy list of our nine favourite demos of the lot.

Read more

This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we look back on the start of this year's June hype cycle, the period formerly known as E3, now a potpourri of other events and announcement livestreams.

PlayStation got the ball rolling last night with its latest State of Play broadcast, which included a look ahead at its rather meagre first-party plans for the remainder of 2024: a moderately buffed-up port of Until Dawn, online shooter Concord, and the charming Astro Bot. But, as our Ian wrote earlier, even the cute robot has got some people (VR fans) disgruntled. Still, as a flat-screen game, surely more people will now play it?

And then there was Silent Hill Transmission or, this time around, basically just a longer look at the upcoming Silent Hill 2 and a chance for Konami to promote a load of tie-in tat. Joining me this week are Eurogamer's Victoria Kennedy and Vikki Blake to discuss.

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The next part of Undertale creator Toby Fox’s current project Deltarune is actually two parts, as chapters 3 and 4 plan to release together. It sounds like that release is still a ways off, according to a recent update from Fox, even as the latest chapter seemingly makes “great progress” and the team eye up work on Chapter 5.

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Hi-Fi Rush studio Tango Gameworks has shared its first social media post since it was shut down by Microsoft last week.

In a message on X, the team thanked its followers for their "continued support". It then reaffirmed what Limited Run Games said last week - the planned physical editions of Hi-Fi Rush are still on the cards, despite the studio's change in circumstances. These editions were first announced back in February, for both Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.

Some of the replies to this post enquired about what will happen when the licensed music in Hi-Fi Rush expires, and while Tango itself has not responded to these questions, others have pointed out that buying physical copies of the game is the best way to ensure preservation.

Read more

ROBOBEAT is the third one of these new-fangled rhythm FPS games I’ve played - after BPM: Bullets Per Minute and Metal: Hellsinger - and the first one I’ve actually clicked with. The concept evidently appeals to me enough to try out those other two, but I guess that I’m simply too much of a rebel-maverick-disruptor to play to the stiflingly enforced rhythms of somebody else’s drum. Something about ROBOBEAT’s roguelike shooting feels different though.

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Brass-blasting rhythm game Trombone Champ honked its way into our hearts when it released in 2022. Since then, it's garnered a dedicated fanbase that have kept its spit-valve full to bursting with creations like this Final Fantasy 7 mod. Trombone Champ mods are special among rhythm games for consisting of two elements: the button-tapping composition of the song itself, and the background visuals. You honk-tap away while unicorns or giant close-ups of full English breakfasts cavort in the background. Although, if your breakfast is cavorting, you probably want to cook it a bit longer.

Read more

Physical copies of Hi-Fi Rush are still on the cards following the closure of developer Tango Gameworks earlier this week.

These physical copies of the rhythm-action game are coming from Limited Run Games, having first been announced back in February for both Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.

Following the shocking news that Microsoft was closing down the game's developer earlier this week, some wondered if these copies would ever actually be released. However, Limited Run has assured fans that, "unless we say otherwise, Hi-Fi Rush is a go!"

Read more

The 360 years feel like a lifetime ago. This week, Xbox stunned the industry by announcing it had closed three studios, and repurposed a fourth into another service game support team. This follows the 1900 people laid off across Xbox at the start of this year, and those Xbox employees quietly caught up in the 10,000 layoffs Microsoft made the year before. It has been a disastrous piece of PR self-sabotage, particularly with the reputations of these studios in mind.

Arkane Austin struggled with the uncharacteristic co-op, online shooter elements of Redfall, but before that made the excellent 2017 reboot of Prey and the first, fantastic Dishonored that led to the immersive sim's modern mini-revival. Tango Gameworks, Microsoft's only Japan-based studio that was led, until earlier this year, by horror legend Shinji Mikami, made The Evil Within games and the critically acclaimed, BAFTA-winning breakout Hi-Fi Rush. Roundhouse Studios was founded by the makers of the original Prey, but is now presumably destined to make different coloured leather boots for The Elder Scrolls Online. Alpha Dog made mobile games, an area where Microsoft has been specifically looking to expand. More broadly, for two console generations now, Xbox has floundered under a clear and obvious lack of inventive, attention-grabbing exclusive games. It just bought these studios in 2021.

If it weren't for the people involved, in 2024, these closures would almost feel routine. This is far from the end of Xbox, of course - in Los Angeles next month, it'll hold yet another make-or-break press conference, that maps out yet another plan for rescuing a lost generation. But be it through exasperation or exhaustion - or the wider industry's sheer, pent-up rage - this feels like something of a nadir. Xbox has spun its wheels for more than a decade, lurching from U-turn to U-turn, strategic reboot to strategic reboot, acquisition to acquisition, closure to closure. The good times have always felt just over the horizon. Project Scorpio will set the tone; Game Pass is the future; the Series X will have the games; Starfield will jump-start Game Pass now it's stalled. The growing sentiment today is that they'll probably never come.

Read more

Earlier this week, Microsoft announced the closure of a number of Bethesda studios, including Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks. Directed by studio creative director John Johanas, Hi-Fi Rush was lauded for being a smaller, original game that went on to win a BAFTA at last month's awards.

Yet following the closure of Tango, head of Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty told Microsoft employees: "We need smaller games that give us prestige and awards," as per internal remarks shared with The Verge.

That's exactly what Hi-Fi Rush was. At the BAFTAs last month, Johanas told Eurogamer the game was "an intense labour of love" and there was a "good situation" at the studio due to the ability to take risks and own creative freedom.

Read more

Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks were reportedly in the process of pitching sequels to two much-loved titles - namely Hi-Fi Rush 2 and a potential new Dishonored game - when Microsoft made the shock decision to close the studios, and more Xbox cuts are said to be on the way.

That's according to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier who, citing sources familiar with the matter, says Arkane had been looking to return to its roots following the release of last year's critically panned multiplayer shooter Redfall, and had pitched a new single-player 'immersive sim' - "such as a new entry in the Dishonored series" - to Xbox executives.

Tango Gameworks, meanwhile, was also in the pitching process, hoping to make a sequel to last year's critically acclaimed rhythm-action hit Hi-FI Rush - a game Microsoft previously called "one of the most successful launches for Bethesda and Xbox in recent years".

Read more

This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss the future of Xbox after the announcement Microsoft is shutting a swathe of Bethesda game studios. Hi-Fi Rush and Redfall once seemed primed to benefit from being available via Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft's much-touted subscription service often seen as the best reason to own the company's console. Now, the studios behind both are gone forever.

Last year, Microsoft's marketing mouthpiece Aaron Greenberg declared Hi-Fi Rush "a break out hit for us and our players in all key measurements and expectations". Redfall, meanwhile, despite being less-favourably received, had a multiplayer roadmap and a promise of single-player, with hope the Game Pass audience would still prop it up.

But Microsoft's reasoning for closing Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin - to focus on bigger bets - suggests Game Pass is no longer a place where creativity can reign without fear of being too niche, and where fun-if-a-bit-mid multiplayer games can't be supported long enough to receive updates just days from completion.

Read more

Hi-Fi Rush is one of eight games available as part of the Humble Choice subscription this May.

The rhythm-action game was developed by Tango Gameworks, which was sadly closed by Microsoft yesterday.

The full list of Humble Choice games for May is as follows:

Read more

Yesterday, Xbox released a post for a new Fire Vapor Special Edition wireless controller, proclaiming it was time to "Feel the Burn". On any other day, this would not have raised any eyebrows particularly. The controller headlining the announcement featured a fiery-theme with burnt orange colours, so the introduction made sense when you read it in total isolation.

However, yesterday was far from just another day at Microsoft, as the company left many reeling when - just hours before it published this controller blog post - it announced it was closing a number of Bethesda studios, including Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks.

Unsurprisingly, Microsoft's controller announcement was met with criticism due to its timing and insensitive nature. "That's how you know when a company is tone deaf," came one reply to the initial post.

Read more

Former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra has rallied around Xbox boss Phil Spencer following Microsoft's shock decision to close four of its game studios - including Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks - saying, "I know this hurts him as much as anyone else."

Ybarra made the comments on Twitter/X amid widespread condemnation of Microsoft's move and as anger over the closures continued to grow. "I see a lot of shots at Phil over today's Xbox announcements," he wrote on social media. "I get it. But knowing him as a human, I know this hurts him as much as anyone else. I can't speak for all of the leadership there, but I do know him and I do know what he is likely going through."

"I'm not trying to defend the decisions," Ybarra continued. "I think we all get ourselves into situations that are tough and unexpected (certainly I have). It's part of the job, as is the accountability for the outcomes. But he's a good human and he cares deeply for the creative process and developers. That's my first hand experience in working closely with him for 8+ years and knowing him for 24+."

Read more

Arkane Lyon boss Dinga Bakaba and others from across the industry have reacted to today's news of devastating closures at Bethesda.

Earlier today, news broke that Microsoft is making huge cuts at Bethesda, including closing Redfall studio Arkane Austin, Hi-Fi Rush studio Tango Gameworks, and Mighty Doom studio Alpha Dog Games.

Bakaba, Arkane Lyon's studio and co-creative director, described the decision as "absolutely terrible" in an irate thread on X, formerly Twitter.

Read more

Xbox has today announced stunning cuts and studio closures affecting a slew of development houses under the Bethesda banner.

Redfall and Dishonored developer Arkane Austin will close, and its online co-op vampire shooter will not be updated further.

Hi-Fi Rush and The Evil Within developer Tango Gameworks will also close. Mighty Doom studio Alpha Dog Games will close and see its game switched off on 7th August.

Read more

Beat Saber will no longer be supported on Meta Quest 1 VR headsets later this year.

According to an FAQ on the game's website, the developer is aiming to "raise the bar of what's possible", meaning it will focus on more recent and powerful devices instead.

Beat Saber will remain playable on Meta Quest 1 devices, but from 2nd November support will end. This means no multiplayer or leaderboard functionality, and no further updates, although the game will remain accessible.

Read more

Physical copies of Hi-Fi Rush are still on the cards following the closure of developer Tango Gameworks earlier this week.

These physical copies of the rhythm-action game are coming from Limited Run Games, having first been announced back in February for both Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.

Following the shocking news that Microsoft was closing down the game's developer earlier this week, some wondered if these copies would ever actually be released. However, Limited Run has assured fans that, "unless we say otherwise, Hi-Fi Rush is a go!"

Read more

The 360 years feel like a lifetime ago. This week, Xbox stunned the industry by announcing it had closed three studios, and repurposed a fourth into another service game support team. This follows the 1900 people laid off across Xbox at the start of this year, and those Xbox employees quietly caught up in the 10,000 layoffs Microsoft made the year before. It has been a disastrous piece of PR self-sabotage, particularly with the reputations of these studios in mind.

Arkane Austin struggled with the uncharacteristic co-op, online shooter elements of Redfall, but before that made the excellent 2017 reboot of Prey and the first, fantastic Dishonored that led to the immersive sim's modern mini-revival. Tango Gameworks, Microsoft's only Japan-based studio that was led, until earlier this year, by horror legend Shinji Mikami, made The Evil Within games and the critically acclaimed, BAFTA-winning breakout Hi-Fi Rush. Roundhouse Studios was founded by the makers of the original Prey, but is now presumably destined to make different coloured leather boots for The Elder Scrolls Online. Alpha Dog made mobile games, an area where Microsoft has been specifically looking to expand. More broadly, for two console generations now, Xbox has floundered under a clear and obvious lack of inventive, attention-grabbing exclusive games. It just bought these studios in 2021.

If it weren't for the people involved, in 2024, these closures would almost feel routine. This is far from the end of Xbox, of course - in Los Angeles next month, it'll hold yet another make-or-break press conference, that maps out yet another plan for rescuing a lost generation. But be it through exasperation or exhaustion - or the wider industry's sheer, pent-up rage - this feels like something of a nadir. Xbox has spun its wheels for more than a decade, lurching from U-turn to U-turn, strategic reboot to strategic reboot, acquisition to acquisition, closure to closure. The good times have always felt just over the horizon. Project Scorpio will set the tone; Game Pass is the future; the Series X will have the games; Starfield will jump-start Game Pass now it's stalled. The growing sentiment today is that they'll probably never come.

Read more

Earlier this week, Microsoft announced the closure of a number of Bethesda studios, including Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks. Directed by studio creative director John Johanas, Hi-Fi Rush was lauded for being a smaller, original game that went on to win a BAFTA at last month's awards.

Yet following the closure of Tango, head of Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty told Microsoft employees: "We need smaller games that give us prestige and awards," as per internal remarks shared with The Verge.

That's exactly what Hi-Fi Rush was. At the BAFTAs last month, Johanas told Eurogamer the game was "an intense labour of love" and there was a "good situation" at the studio due to the ability to take risks and own creative freedom.

Read more

Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks were reportedly in the process of pitching sequels to two much-loved titles - namely Hi-Fi Rush 2 and a potential new Dishonored game - when Microsoft made the shock decision to close the studios, and more Xbox cuts are said to be on the way.

That's according to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier who, citing sources familiar with the matter, says Arkane had been looking to return to its roots following the release of last year's critically panned multiplayer shooter Redfall, and had pitched a new single-player 'immersive sim' - "such as a new entry in the Dishonored series" - to Xbox executives.

Tango Gameworks, meanwhile, was also in the pitching process, hoping to make a sequel to last year's critically acclaimed rhythm-action hit Hi-FI Rush - a game Microsoft previously called "one of the most successful launches for Bethesda and Xbox in recent years".

Read more

This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss the future of Xbox after the announcement Microsoft is shutting a swathe of Bethesda game studios. Hi-Fi Rush and Redfall once seemed primed to benefit from being available via Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft's much-touted subscription service often seen as the best reason to own the company's console. Now, the studios behind both are gone forever.

Last year, Microsoft's marketing mouthpiece Aaron Greenberg declared Hi-Fi Rush "a break out hit for us and our players in all key measurements and expectations". Redfall, meanwhile, despite being less-favourably received, had a multiplayer roadmap and a promise of single-player, with hope the Game Pass audience would still prop it up.

But Microsoft's reasoning for closing Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin - to focus on bigger bets - suggests Game Pass is no longer a place where creativity can reign without fear of being too niche, and where fun-if-a-bit-mid multiplayer games can't be supported long enough to receive updates just days from completion.

Read more

Hi-Fi Rush is one of eight games available as part of the Humble Choice subscription this May.

The rhythm-action game was developed by Tango Gameworks, which was sadly closed by Microsoft yesterday.

The full list of Humble Choice games for May is as follows:

Read more

Yesterday, Xbox released a post for a new Fire Vapor Special Edition wireless controller, proclaiming it was time to "Feel the Burn". On any other day, this would not have raised any eyebrows particularly. The controller headlining the announcement featured a fiery-theme with burnt orange colours, so the introduction made sense when you read it in total isolation.

However, yesterday was far from just another day at Microsoft, as the company left many reeling when - just hours before it published this controller blog post - it announced it was closing a number of Bethesda studios, including Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks.

Unsurprisingly, Microsoft's controller announcement was met with criticism due to its timing and insensitive nature. "That's how you know when a company is tone deaf," came one reply to the initial post.

Read more

Former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra has rallied around Xbox boss Phil Spencer following Microsoft's shock decision to close four of its game studios - including Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks - saying, "I know this hurts him as much as anyone else."

Ybarra made the comments on Twitter/X amid widespread condemnation of Microsoft's move and as anger over the closures continued to grow. "I see a lot of shots at Phil over today's Xbox announcements," he wrote on social media. "I get it. But knowing him as a human, I know this hurts him as much as anyone else. I can't speak for all of the leadership there, but I do know him and I do know what he is likely going through."

"I'm not trying to defend the decisions," Ybarra continued. "I think we all get ourselves into situations that are tough and unexpected (certainly I have). It's part of the job, as is the accountability for the outcomes. But he's a good human and he cares deeply for the creative process and developers. That's my first hand experience in working closely with him for 8+ years and knowing him for 24+."

Read more

Arkane Lyon boss Dinga Bakaba and others from across the industry have reacted to today's news of devastating closures at Bethesda.

Earlier today, news broke that Microsoft is making huge cuts at Bethesda, including closing Redfall studio Arkane Austin, Hi-Fi Rush studio Tango Gameworks, and Mighty Doom studio Alpha Dog Games.

Bakaba, Arkane Lyon's studio and co-creative director, described the decision as "absolutely terrible" in an irate thread on X, formerly Twitter.

Read more

Xbox has today announced stunning cuts and studio closures affecting a slew of development houses under the Bethesda banner.

Redfall and Dishonored developer Arkane Austin will close, and its online co-op vampire shooter will not be updated further.

Hi-Fi Rush and The Evil Within developer Tango Gameworks will also close. Mighty Doom studio Alpha Dog Games will close and see its game switched off on 7th August.

Read more

Beat Saber will no longer be supported on Meta Quest 1 VR headsets later this year.

According to an FAQ on the game's website, the developer is aiming to "raise the bar of what's possible", meaning it will focus on more recent and powerful devices instead.

Beat Saber will remain playable on Meta Quest 1 devices, but from 2nd November support will end. This means no multiplayer or leaderboard functionality, and no further updates, although the game will remain accessible.

Read more

Physical copies of Hi-Fi Rush are still on the cards following the closure of developer Tango Gameworks earlier this week.

These physical copies of the rhythm-action game are coming from Limited Run Games, having first been announced back in February for both Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.

Following the shocking news that Microsoft was closing down the game's developer earlier this week, some wondered if these copies would ever actually be released. However, Limited Run has assured fans that, "unless we say otherwise, Hi-Fi Rush is a go!"

Read more

The 360 years feel like a lifetime ago. This week, Xbox stunned the industry by announcing it had closed three studios, and repurposed a fourth into another service game support team. This follows the 1900 people laid off across Xbox at the start of this year, and those Xbox employees quietly caught up in the 10,000 layoffs Microsoft made the year before. It has been a disastrous piece of PR self-sabotage, particularly with the reputations of these studios in mind.

Arkane Austin struggled with the uncharacteristic co-op, online shooter elements of Redfall, but before that made the excellent 2017 reboot of Prey and the first, fantastic Dishonored that led to the immersive sim's modern mini-revival. Tango Gameworks, Microsoft's only Japan-based studio that was led, until earlier this year, by horror legend Shinji Mikami, made The Evil Within games and the critically acclaimed, BAFTA-winning breakout Hi-Fi Rush. Roundhouse Studios was founded by the makers of the original Prey, but is now presumably destined to make different coloured leather boots for The Elder Scrolls Online. Alpha Dog made mobile games, an area where Microsoft has been specifically looking to expand. More broadly, for two console generations now, Xbox has floundered under a clear and obvious lack of inventive, attention-grabbing exclusive games. It just bought these studios in 2021.

If it weren't for the people involved, in 2024, these closures would almost feel routine. This is far from the end of Xbox, of course - in Los Angeles next month, it'll hold yet another make-or-break press conference, that maps out yet another plan for rescuing a lost generation. But be it through exasperation or exhaustion - or the wider industry's sheer, pent-up rage - this feels like something of a nadir. Xbox has spun its wheels for more than a decade, lurching from U-turn to U-turn, strategic reboot to strategic reboot, acquisition to acquisition, closure to closure. The good times have always felt just over the horizon. Project Scorpio will set the tone; Game Pass is the future; the Series X will have the games; Starfield will jump-start Game Pass now it's stalled. The growing sentiment today is that they'll probably never come.

Read more

Earlier this week, Microsoft announced the closure of a number of Bethesda studios, including Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks. Directed by studio creative director John Johanas, Hi-Fi Rush was lauded for being a smaller, original game that went on to win a BAFTA at last month's awards.

Yet following the closure of Tango, head of Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty told Microsoft employees: "We need smaller games that give us prestige and awards," as per internal remarks shared with The Verge.

That's exactly what Hi-Fi Rush was. At the BAFTAs last month, Johanas told Eurogamer the game was "an intense labour of love" and there was a "good situation" at the studio due to the ability to take risks and own creative freedom.

Read more

Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks were reportedly in the process of pitching sequels to two much-loved titles - namely Hi-Fi Rush 2 and a potential new Dishonored game - when Microsoft made the shock decision to close the studios, and more Xbox cuts are said to be on the way.

That's according to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier who, citing sources familiar with the matter, says Arkane had been looking to return to its roots following the release of last year's critically panned multiplayer shooter Redfall, and had pitched a new single-player 'immersive sim' - "such as a new entry in the Dishonored series" - to Xbox executives.

Tango Gameworks, meanwhile, was also in the pitching process, hoping to make a sequel to last year's critically acclaimed rhythm-action hit Hi-FI Rush - a game Microsoft previously called "one of the most successful launches for Bethesda and Xbox in recent years".

Read more

This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss the future of Xbox after the announcement Microsoft is shutting a swathe of Bethesda game studios. Hi-Fi Rush and Redfall once seemed primed to benefit from being available via Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft's much-touted subscription service often seen as the best reason to own the company's console. Now, the studios behind both are gone forever.

Last year, Microsoft's marketing mouthpiece Aaron Greenberg declared Hi-Fi Rush "a break out hit for us and our players in all key measurements and expectations". Redfall, meanwhile, despite being less-favourably received, had a multiplayer roadmap and a promise of single-player, with hope the Game Pass audience would still prop it up.

But Microsoft's reasoning for closing Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin - to focus on bigger bets - suggests Game Pass is no longer a place where creativity can reign without fear of being too niche, and where fun-if-a-bit-mid multiplayer games can't be supported long enough to receive updates just days from completion.

Read more

Hi-Fi Rush is one of eight games available as part of the Humble Choice subscription this May.

The rhythm-action game was developed by Tango Gameworks, which was sadly closed by Microsoft yesterday.

The full list of Humble Choice games for May is as follows:

Read more

Yesterday, Xbox released a post for a new Fire Vapor Special Edition wireless controller, proclaiming it was time to "Feel the Burn". On any other day, this would not have raised any eyebrows particularly. The controller headlining the announcement featured a fiery-theme with burnt orange colours, so the introduction made sense when you read it in total isolation.

However, yesterday was far from just another day at Microsoft, as the company left many reeling when - just hours before it published this controller blog post - it announced it was closing a number of Bethesda studios, including Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks.

Unsurprisingly, Microsoft's controller announcement was met with criticism due to its timing and insensitive nature. "That's how you know when a company is tone deaf," came one reply to the initial post.

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Former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra has rallied around Xbox boss Phil Spencer following Microsoft's shock decision to close four of its game studios - including Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks - saying, "I know this hurts him as much as anyone else."

Ybarra made the comments on Twitter/X amid widespread condemnation of Microsoft's move and as anger over the closures continued to grow. "I see a lot of shots at Phil over today's Xbox announcements," he wrote on social media. "I get it. But knowing him as a human, I know this hurts him as much as anyone else. I can't speak for all of the leadership there, but I do know him and I do know what he is likely going through."

"I'm not trying to defend the decisions," Ybarra continued. "I think we all get ourselves into situations that are tough and unexpected (certainly I have). It's part of the job, as is the accountability for the outcomes. But he's a good human and he cares deeply for the creative process and developers. That's my first hand experience in working closely with him for 8+ years and knowing him for 24+."

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Arkane Lyon boss Dinga Bakaba and others from across the industry have reacted to today's news of devastating closures at Bethesda.

Earlier today, news broke that Microsoft is making huge cuts at Bethesda, including closing Redfall studio Arkane Austin, Hi-Fi Rush studio Tango Gameworks, and Mighty Doom studio Alpha Dog Games.

Bakaba, Arkane Lyon's studio and co-creative director, described the decision as "absolutely terrible" in an irate thread on X, formerly Twitter.

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Xbox has today announced stunning cuts and studio closures affecting a slew of development houses under the Bethesda banner.

Redfall and Dishonored developer Arkane Austin will close, and its online co-op vampire shooter will not be updated further.

Hi-Fi Rush and The Evil Within developer Tango Gameworks will also close. Mighty Doom studio Alpha Dog Games will close and see its game switched off on 7th August.

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Beat Saber will no longer be supported on Meta Quest 1 VR headsets later this year.

According to an FAQ on the game's website, the developer is aiming to "raise the bar of what's possible", meaning it will focus on more recent and powerful devices instead.

Beat Saber will remain playable on Meta Quest 1 devices, but from 2nd November support will end. This means no multiplayer or leaderboard functionality, and no further updates, although the game will remain accessible.

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Ah, it feels like only yesterday that Microsoft shut down Tango Gameworks, creators of Hi-Fi Rush, and now here's Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, telling Microsoft staff at an internal townhall meeting that "we need smaller games that give us prestige and awards" - a sentence we might plausibly lengthen to "...like Hi-Fi Rush".

See, these are the kinds of glacial changes of focus and ponderous shifts of strategy you often get at very large videogame publishers such as Microsoft. Trends are cyclical and corporations are sort of just these massive, sleepy hamsters, trundling around the wheel to rediscover practices and projects they once deemed bad for business. Hang on, let me go look up "yesterday" in the dictionary and fetch some sellotape - my brain appears to have exploded.

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